Expecting Silence Again?

Hello,

I'm a 21-year-old studying abroad this spring. A few weeks ago (in fact, tonight makes it exactly three weeks), I went to a nightclub that had pretty loud music. I left at around four in the morning, and woke up to pain in my ears the next morning. Tinnitus and hyperacusis followed thereafter. This post is a Hail Mary inquiry to see what y'all think.

1) My tinnitus has gotten slightly better since the onset. It's a faint, high-pitched noise, coupled with a whooshing sound. I hear it in class, when I'm about to fall asleep, or when I'm in otherwise quite environments.

2) My hyperacusis has gone from being almost unbearable--ears clogging in conversation with people, riding the metro, eating in the dinning hall--to nonexistent.

3) I've been taking ginkgo and corticosteroids for the past two weeks, twice daily.

I'm wondering what you think my chances are for this tinnitus to fade away (as opposed to simply habituating) completely. I've never had tinnitus before, know it's a fickle thing that's hard to diagnose, and understand for this reason that nobody really knows. However, I do recognise that some of you here are knowledgable, and therefore might be able to give me insight as to what I could (as opposed to should) expect.

Any and all answers are much appreciated.

Cheers,

Nico

 

Things in your favour:

1) First time contracting tinnitus. As people here will tell you, you only get one chance. If it goes away, it could come back and be a lot more persistent
2) You're young. At 21 you're not likely to have accumulated a lot of hearing loss from life or acoustic trauma.
3) Corticosteroids! Good.

Have you been to see your GP, ENT or audiologist?

 

Yes, I went to a ENT here. It was a pretty standard thing where she measured my hearing, which was normal (I realise that undetectable hearing damage can happen, though). She told me to do the corticosteroids for 15 days, and stay on the gingko until this May. My custom earplugs come in this upcoming Monday.

I'm just hoping to get silence back. In the meanwhile, I'm trying to carry on with school, and a social life that doesn't go above 85 decibles.

--n

 

Looks like you've done all the right things.

Hoping you can be rid of this.

 

Assuming you won't harm your ears again when you are recovering and healing, there is a good chance that you will hear silence again.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/
and
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

The h going away so quickly is a great sign. Glad to hear the t has gotten a little better too! No promises but stay positive and don't expose yourself to loud noises while your ears are healing.

 

I'd keep it lower than that for a few weeks/months. Then aim for 85 decibels if all goes well. -- Best!

 

Just remember - we as humans cannot regrow inner ears. Once you lose them, they're gone. So please be cautious. No night of bumping up against skanks in a busy club is going to be worth a lifetime of depression and never experiencing silence again.

 

Seems a little late so say that now, don't you think? We'll see.

 

yes, and that means that your hearing is not at all normal because ENT's and audiologist are dead wrong about hearing loss. Good thing you let your ears heal, keep doing that.

 

You won't believe how many people go back to nightclubs AFTER getting T. The reason they often use is they "don't want to have T drive their bus."

Some of them actually report being fine (it is not clear how close they are to getting to that "last straw" that would change that). Others regret making this particular decision.

 

There are a few threads on here where people have massively decreased their tinnitus over time, then ONE incident brings it back. @Don Tinny had his tinnitus dissipate greatly over a few years, went to one gig WITH EARPLUGS and it came back.

I know you're a young guy and young guys want to go out and do the things young guys do, but be very weary from now on. And certainly don't tempt fate.

 

@hearandnow -- It seems you're missing a really import point here. -- It appears injured ears are very similar to concussions. If a person sufferes a concussion, and then has another one before the first one is done healing, the 2nd concussion can be several times worse. It makes sense, as an injured brain trying to heal doesn't have the resilience of a healthy brain to withstand a new trauma.

It's often the same with injured ears. Many people don't understand that they can take many weeks/months to fully heal (if ever). You're in a fortunate place, as you're young, are doing a number of good things. and in my mind, your prognosis is very good. -- The ear healing process continues even after improvements such as less pain, less fullness, less tinnitus, less hyperacusis. It's at these times that too many people make the mistake of deciding they're ears are healed well enough to do "normal" things, which is often not the case. It may never be the case, but the period of maximum vulnerability is in the beginning, especially the first year. -- Best!

 

I know they say "if it's too loud, you're too old", but I was in a chain restaurant here in the UK this weekend and they were playing their music at 85db. I had to lean in to speak to my girlfriend and I thought "why the hell does anyone really need music louder than this?"

 

Definitely like the concussion simile.

I know a guy locally who is a rugby player. He had loads of concussions. Went to see him fight a Thai boxing exhibition fight. One kick to the head and he was OUUUUUUUUT. Suffered massive memory loss after, kept re-introducing himself to people. There's no doubt that the many concussions he sustained on the rugby pitch had progressively lowered his ability to take trauma.